Regenerative air-conditioning apparatuses may perform a cooling cycle for cooling an indoor space or a heating cycle for heating the indoor space through processes for compressing, condensing, expanding and evaporating a refrigerant using a compressor including an outdoor unit and an indoor unit, an outdoor heat exchanger, an expansion valve, and an indoor heat exchanger.
Such a regenerative air-conditioning apparatus includes a heat accumulation unit between an outdoor unit and an indoor unit. In the heat accumulation unit, the inside of a case is filled with a heat storage medium, and a heat accumulation tube is disposed between the heat storage medium. A refrigerant within the heat accumulation tube may be heat-exchanged with the heat storage medium.
According to the regenerative air-conditioning apparatus, cool air or heat may be stored in the heat storage medium while the refrigerant flows between the outdoor unit and the heat accumulation unit. Thus, cool air or heat may be stored in the heat accumulation unit while the outdoor unit is operated using inexpensive midnight electricity, and then, an indoor space may be cooled or heated by using the cool air or heat stored in the heat accumulation unit. Also, the outdoor unit may be operated to cool or heat the indoor space while using the cool air or heat stored in the heat accumulation unit.
When the cooling operation or the heating operation is performed, the refrigerant flowing into the outdoor unit and the indoor unit may flow in directions different from each other. Thus, when the cool air or heat is stored in the heat accumulation unit, or the indoor space is cooled or heated using the cool air or heat stored in the heat accumulation unit, the refrigerant flowing into the heat accumulation tube may flow in directions different from each other.
Thus, tubes for connecting the heat accumulation unit, the outdoor unit, and the indoor unit to each other should be provided, and valves for opening or closing the tubes should be controlled so that a flow direction of the refrigerant flowing into the heat accumulation tube is changed according to an operation state of the regenerative air-conditioning apparatus.
In the related art, tubes for connecting the heat accumulation unit to the outdoor unit and the indoor unit are complicated, and also valves for opening or closing the tubes are provided in plurality. Thus, manufacturing costs may be increased, and an operation of controlling the valves may be complicated.